A Pew Research Center poll found nearly half of Americans hold the false belief that TARP was passed under President Obama, while only 34 percent know it originated under Bush."Oh yeah?" Bush replied. "50% of the people were wrong."

A Pew Research Center poll found nearly half of Americans hold the false belief that TARP was passed under President Obama, while only 34 percent know it originated under Bush."Oh yeah?" Bush replied. "50% of the people were wrong."

North Korea put its rocket units on standby Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after repeated threats and one day after two American stealth bombers flew over the Korean Peninsula in a military exercise.

A U.S. official warned that the isolated communist state is “not a paper tiger” and its reaction should not be dismissed as “pure bluster.”

According to the North Korea's official KCNA news agency, the country's leader Kim Jong Un “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation” at a midnight meeting of top generals, Reuters reported.

The latest threat comes one day after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

The U.S. official emphasized the danger posed by North Korea’s military and the unpredictable nature of its 30-year-old leader.

“North Korea is not a paper tiger so it wouldn't be smart to dismiss its provocative behavior as pure bluster. What's not clear right now is how much risk Kim Jong Un is willing to run to show the world and domestic elites that he's a tough guy,” said the official, who asked not to be named. “His inexperience is certain -- his wisdom is still very much in question.”

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They escalate. We escalate, justifying their further escalation. Meanwhile, there is a kid surrounded by old men who treat people like pawns in their war games instead of human beings that deserve a chance at freedom. It's rather unfortunate how often war and blind patriotism are glamorized.

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That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

I just finished reading Escape from Camp 14 which is a pretty awesome book. The regime really needs to be taken out. If Iraq deserved regime change then NK definitely deserves it after over 50 years. I almost wish that they would go ahead and invade and trigger their own destruction, even if there would be some casualties in the beginning.

The Chinese could remove the NK regime simply by enforcing the letter of international law and tightening the border screws. But China doesn't want to deal with the resulting basket case any more than SK or the US want to. Geopolitically, the status quo is better than collapse as long as the country stays isolated and contained. Sucks for the NK people, although by all reports they don't realize how bad they've got it relative to the rest of Asia.

I have to think that they know things are bad, but not to what extent. When they've lived their lives under a totalitarian government with a near complete block of the outside world, they have no idea how bad it is there.

The United States sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday to join military exercises in a move aimed at further deterring threats from North Korea against its neighbor.

And on Monday South Korean President Park Geun-hye appeared to give her country's military permission to strike back at any attack from the North without further word from Seoul, saying she took the North's escalating threats "very seriously," South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

"As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, I will trust the military's judgment on abrupt and surprise provocations by North Korea," she said, according to Yonhap.

Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald / U.S. Air Force via Reuters, file

The deployment and Park's remarks came as tensions approached an all-time high between Pyongyang and Washington.

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I really wonder what NK's endgame with this is. It seems like this is far beyond the typical saber rattling.

Kerry said yesterday the US won't tolerate a Nuclear capable NK and I wonder if that means we'll be bombing that site in the next 6-12 months. And if we do that, does that mean open war on the peninsula again?

Read an article that posed 3 positions, one of them being 'NK called off the truce, so we're technically at war again so the US can do whatever it wants'. That's a gross oversimplification, but I really hope this doesn't come to actual fighting.

Though I'm not sure how NK can back away from this without it doing so.

I heard part of an interview on Fresh Air yesterday with some professor who studies North/South Korea relations. There is apparently a large industrial complex in North Korea that sends goods to South Korea and employs many South Korean workers. It makes up an important part of the North Korean economy. The professor stated that you didn't need to start worrying as long as that complex continued to work as usual. Well, today North Korea stopped the South Korean workers from entering that complex.

Quote

North Korea on Wednesday stirred up fresh unease in Northeast Asia, blocking hundreds of South Koreans from entering a joint industrial complex that serves as an important symbol of cooperation between the two countries.

North Korea's decision Wednesday to prevent South Korean workers and managers from entering the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which sits on the North's side of the border but houses operations of scores of South Korean companies, is a tangible sign of the tensions between the two sides.

It's also a move that could end up hurting Pyongyang financially, since Kaesong is considered to be an important source of hard currency for Kim's regime.

More than 50,000 North Koreans work in the zone, producing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods each year. Those workers earn on average $134 a month, of which North Korean authorities take about 45% in various taxes.

The North had threatened at the weekend to shut down the industrial complex.

I heard part of an interview on Fresh Air yesterday with some professor who studies North/South Korea relations. There is apparently a large industrial complex in North Korea that sends goods to South Korea and employs many South Korean workers. It makes up an important part of the North Korean economy. The professor stated that you didn't need to start worrying as long as that complex continued to work as usual. Well, today North Korea stopped the South Korean workers from entering that complex.

Quote

North Korea on Wednesday stirred up fresh unease in Northeast Asia, blocking hundreds of South Koreans from entering a joint industrial complex that serves as an important symbol of cooperation between the two countries.

North Korea's decision Wednesday to prevent South Korean workers and managers from entering the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which sits on the North's side of the border but houses operations of scores of South Korean companies, is a tangible sign of the tensions between the two sides.

It's also a move that could end up hurting Pyongyang financially, since Kaesong is considered to be an important source of hard currency for Kim's regime.

More than 50,000 North Koreans work in the zone, producing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods each year. Those workers earn on average $134 a month, of which North Korean authorities take about 45% in various taxes.

The North had threatened at the weekend to shut down the industrial complex.

they've updated the article:

Quote

North Korea stirred up fresh unease in Northeast Asia early Thursday, threatening attacks by a "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear force and warning, "The moment of explosion is approaching fast."

The new threat came after the North Koreans locked South Korean workers out of a joint factory complex and announced plans to restart a nuclear reactor it shut down five years ago. Meanwhile, the United States announced it was sending ballistic missile defenses to Guam, a Pacific territory that's home to U.S. naval and air bases.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast. No one can say a war will break out in Korea or not and whether it will break out today or tomorrow," North Korea's state news agency KCNA declared in its latest broadside. "The responsibility for this grave situation entirely rests with the U.S. administration and military warmongers keen to encroach upon the DPRK's sovereignty and bring down its dignified social system with brigandish logic."

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I'm guessing that Shane's not allowed to ever return after his rather scathing report on the country in the video series linked above, so they had to find some way to get an update on the country since baby Kim came into power. Since it's well documented that he's a huge basketball fan, this was probably their best "in". Hopefully we'll get an updated series on the state of things in the near future.

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Warning: You will see my penis. -Brian

Just remember: once a user figures out gluten noting them they're allowed to make fun of you. - Ceekay speaking in tongues.

North Korea has asked embassies in Pyongyang that might wish to get staff out if there is a war to submit plans to it by April 10, Britain said on Friday, as it upped the pressure as part of a war of words that has set the Korean peninsula on edge.

Initial reports by Russia's Foreign Ministry and China's Xinhua news agency suggested that North Korea had suggested that embassies should consider closing because of the risk of conflict.

The request came amid a military buildup by the United States in South Korea following the North's warnings that war was inevitable due to U.N. sanctions imposed for a nuclear test and what it terms "hostile" U.S. troop drills with South Korea.

"We believe they have taken this step as part of their continuing rhetoric that the U.S. poses a threat to them," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement after the reports from Russia and China.

A British diplomatic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that European Union embassies in Pyongyang had been summoned to deliver their evacuation plans.

Under the Vienna Convention that governs diplomatic missions, host governments are required to facilitate the exit of embassy staff in the event of conflict.

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The Pentagon's intelligence arm has assessed with "moderate confidence" that North Korea has the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon with a ballistic missile though the reliability is believed to be "low."

Disclosed first by a congressman at a hearing on Thursday and then confirmed to CNN by the Defense Department, the assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is the clearest acknowledgment yet by the United States about potential advances in North Korea's nuclear program.

The surprise development comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has unleashed a torrent of dramatic threats against the United States and South Korea in recent weeks, including that of a possible nuclear strike.

The Obama administration calculates a test launch of mobile ballistic missiles could come at any time. But a senior administration official said there is no indication that missiles believed being readied for tests have been armed with any nuclear capability.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, read from an unclassified version of the intelligence assessment at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

"DIA assess with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however, the reliability will be low."

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North Korea turned up the temperature yet another degree on its neighbors Monday, warning that it would not give any advance notice before attacking South Korea.

"Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now," the North said in a statement carried by its official news agency, KCNA.

North Korea said it was responding to insults from the"puppet authorities" in the South, claiming that there had been a rally against North Korea in Seoul, the South Korean capital. It called the rally a "monstrous criminal act."

I really want to know from Kato what it's like over there as he seems to be the best 'expert' on this topic. So Kato if you could can you provide some answers / feedback on the following:

How do the SK soldiers feel really? Are they willing to defend?

What are your feelings on the SK and US forces to actually repel NK forces coming across the DMZ

Obviously no one wants conflict but do you think the SK people would support a conflict if pushed

Thanks,Roman

I recently did a year over there, was there when Kim Jong Il died. I never talked to any of the military just civilians. Civilians couldn't care less, it's just more of the same to them, Il's death caused almost no reaction, and this is just more idle threats.

Although we exercised (as in war games) with their military sometimes, can't say anything to their state of readiness.

Our forces expect Seoul to fall almost immediately. They pretty much expect NK to make a pretty big dent before we can get things stabilized. Not only would there be a large invasion force, they think there would get their special forces in behind to cause trouble.